Bengal: Firing from govt car kills civilian, TMC leader arrested

Police arrested a Trinamool Congress leader in West Bengal’s Malda district after he opened fire from inside the car on a mob on Sunday afternoon while trying to flee the scene of an accident, killing one person and critically injuring another.

Pabitra Roy, Trinamool leader and local village council chief, rammed his officially-allotted Bolero car into a cyclist around 3pm on Sunday and opened fire on a chasing mob.(HT Photo)

Police arrested a Trinamool Congress leader in West Bengal’s Malda district after he opened fire from inside a car on a mob on Sunday afternoon while trying to flee the scene of an accident, killing one person and critically injuring another.

Pabitra Roy, Trinamool leader and local village council chief, rammed his officially-allotted Bolero car into a cyclist around 3pm on Sunday and opened fire on a chasing mob, triggering massive protests in the area.

“We have arrested Pabitra Roy and he has confessed he fired from his car using his licensed handgun. Further investigation is on. The car has been seized,” said Prasun Banerjee, police superintendent of Malda district.

Local residents started chasing the car after it hit the cyclist and caught it around 500 metres from the accident scene. But when the mob tried to surround the car and protests, bullets flew out of the vehicle, scattering the crowd and helping the leader speed off.

Ashim Mondal (19) died at the spot while Rahul Paswan (17) sustained a bullet injury to his skull and is critical. Both are residents of the Kulipara area in Englishbazar town, around 360km from Kolkata.

“My son went to play cricket at Kulipara. He rushed to the car after watching the chaos. But suddenly some persons from inside the car started firing when they realised it is impossible to flee from the scene with the car,” Mondal’s mother Rabinadevi said.

When police reached the scene, an angry mob gheraoed them and started protests. Angry locals also blocked the Malda-Mothabari state highway area for hours.

Local people said the registration no. of the car is WB 65-5740 and there was a government of department’s plate in the car.

“My brother was standing at the Kuli crossing area. He was also chasing the car with other people. But some miscreants fired on him from inside the car,” Paswan’s elder brother Arjun Paswan said.